In Bed With the Billionaire

Starred review from October 24, 2016
The intense fifth and final Nine Circles erotic contemporary (after Kidnapped by the Billionaire), which crisscrosses the underworlds of Paris and New York, showcases Ashenden’s talent for creating fascinating, morally gray characters. For 16 years, billionaire Theodore Fitzgerald has consolidated power as crime lord Jericho with the goal of smashing his father’s criminal enterprise. Assassin Temple Cross has a contract from the Nine Circles to kill Jericho, but she discovers the part of Theo that hasn’t been corrupted by years of evil. Theo, a sexy hero with a tortured past, is a sizzling match for Temple, who has her own demons. Neither of them is interested in candy hearts or soft music; their affair is dark, explosive, and gritty, with a splash of dominance. Ashenden is brilliant at crafting complex characters, and she interweaves sensuality with suspense as Theo and Temple both reach past their criminal lives for that sliver of redemption. The love story is as intensely captivating and compelling as the previous ones in the series, and Ashenden provides fans with a tremendously satisfying conclusion that ties up all loose ends.

October 1, 2016
An assassin is hired to take out a notorious crime lord, but she finds herself caught in a web of desire and uncertainty when it turns out that the infamous villain just might be a hero. Seven years after her sister disappeared into the horrifying maze of a sex-trafficking ring run by an enigmatic man known as Jericho, assassin Temple Cross has been hired to kill him. It's a job she's pleased to accept, and she hopes to find out what happened to Thalia before he takes his last breath. Allowing herself to be caught in the slave trade gives her the opportunity to get up close and personal with Jericho, who's movie-star handsome and so sexually compelling it takes her breath away. Even more surprising, their incendiary attraction to each other keeps them both alive long enough to create an odd sympathy between them that leads to the realization that neither is what they seem, and beneath their cruel reputations and emotional armor, they are both righteous warriors whose missions have led them down questionable paths. After Temple learns the truth about what happened to her sisterand Jerichos role in her fateshe begins to dig deeper into his secrets, and as she becomes aware of the dangerous game hes playing, shes more worried about his survival than fulfilling her contract to see him dead. Jerichos many enemies are closing in, and just when Temple begins to believe in redemption, time may run out on their chance for a happy ending. Theres no question that Ashenden has a knack for redemptive characters, pulse-pounding conflict, and a roller-coaster plot, though the occasional slipped detail or not-quite-believable element pulls us out of the story here and there. The book dances on a dark edge and frolics in naughtiness but is mostly a hot "villains redeemed" fantasy romp.

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